Steyr 1909 Long Barrel Vest Pocket
Steyr Mannlicher · Pistol · Out Of Production · 1909
Also known as: Steyr-Pieper 1909 Long Barrel, Steyr Pieper M1909 Long Barrel, 1909 Pieper's Patent
Overview
The Steyr 1909 Long Barrel Vest Pocket is a long-barreled variant of Steyr's licensed build of Nicolas Pieper's blowback-operated .25 ACP pocket pistol. Its overall length was stretched to roughly 18 centimeters (about 7 inches) so the little pistol would fall outside the barrel-length threshold of Austro-Hungarian gun legislation and could be sold without the licensing that shorter handguns required. Like the standard Model 1909 it retains the tip-up, hinged barrel that pivots open for loading a cartridge directly into the chamber, a six-round detachable magazine, and a manual lever safety, but the extended barrel improves the sight radius and muzzle velocity. It was offered in both the common 6.35mm (.25 ACP) and the scarcer 7.65mm (.32 ACP) chamberings.
Specifications
| Overall Length | 180 mm (7.09") |
| Action Type | Blowback |
| Firing Mechanism | Hammer Fired |
| Trigger Type | Single Action |
| Magazine Capacity | 6 rounds |
| Magazine Type | Detachable Box |
| Muzzle Velocity | 232 m/s (761 fps) |
| Muzzle Energy | 87 J (64 ft·lbf) |
| Effective Range | 20 m (22 yd) |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Slide Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
| Finish | Blued |
Calibers
- .25 ACP · primary — also known as .25 Auto, 6.35x16mm Browning, 6.35mm Browning
- .32 ACP — also known as .32 Auto, 7.65x17mm Browning, 7.65mm Browning
Features
- Firing modes: Semi Automatic
- Feed systems: Detachable Box Magazine
- Safety mechanisms: Manual Safety
- Features: Extended Barrel, Tip Up Barrel, Hinged Barrel For Loading, Single Shot Capable, Hard Rubber Grips
Base model
Production
Production years: 1909-1933
Long-barrel guns were a minority within the roughly 130,000-135,800 total 6.35mm Steyr-Pieper 1909 pistols; 7.65mm long-barrel examples are scarcer still.
Origin
Country of origin: Austria
Designer: Nicolas Pieper
Discontinued: 1933
Notes
A legislative-workaround variant rather than a distinct model: the long barrel pushed overall length to about 180 mm to evade Austro-Hungarian licensing rules. Exact barrel length and weight for the long-barrel guns are not published; overall length is per Buffaloe's Steyr-Pieper reference. Velocity/energy figures shown are standard .25 ACP cartridge values (a longer barrel would raise these modestly). Long-barrel examples are documented on second-series frames (e.g. SN 116154A).
Background
To sidestep Austro-Hungarian gun laws that regulated handguns by barrel length, Steyr simply screwed a much longer barrel onto its tiny Pieper vest-pocket pistol, stretching it to about seven inches so it could be sold license-free, an early example of a firearm engineered around a legal loophole rather than a battlefield need.